We have quite some swell from north, in addition to the sea from the north easterly 25-30 knots which make our live uneasy. Santjana takes
this condition better than we both do. The days are flying by like the waves under our keel. Doris is on watch from 05.00 til 09.00, then follows breakfast, at 11.00 she goes for another two
hours sleep, then myself for another two hours. Then a delayed dinner and then I’m on watch for the next 4 hours til 23.00, then again Doris for the next three hours and so on. This is repeating
day after day and worked quite well for us during this five days. We wondered before how we will cope with this daily routine and have to admit that it worked quite well. On Tuesday we suffered
less from swell than the days before.
Our daily live is happening in the sloping position, simple daily activities like cooking, dressing/undressing or visits to the bathroom need more attention and energy than normal.

We enjoy the lunch and dinner in the cockpit, among other menues we loved our sweet sour, spaghetti and Irish stew, they only taste just
perfect each time!

On Thursday morning we got only a few miles more to Quinta do Lorde, our final destination for this leg. Unfortunately it is 05.00 in the
morning, pitch dark even the marina is not very well lit. Dawn only starts just before nine which means turning some waiting loops ahead of the coast. It is around nine o’clock when we made fast
at the waiting pontoon of marina Qinta do Lorde. It is here when we noticed that we have entered the next time zone, which means one hour less, so waiting one hour until the marina opens at
nine.

Unfortunately fuel will be probably again available next Monday since the last boat has sucked several hundred liters of fuel and emptied
the reservoir.

We move Santjana to her final berth for the next week, give her a shower to get rid of all the salt which was blown on deck. Then we take
a shower ourselves and a small welcome drink and finally we go for some sleep to recover a bit.

Followed by a short stroll through Quinta do Lorde which is a very
nice and clean holiday resort consisting of a hotel, lots of appartements and the marina. Then it is already time for dinner and – sleeping again.

T

Friday, 6.10.2017 – Funchal (Madeira)

We use the offering to travel with the hotel shuttle to Funchal and back for free.
Since the shuttle only takes a bit more than half an hour to get there compared to one and a half hour with the normal bus service we are glad to use this unexpected offering. Only great the
Belgian crew next to our berth told us about this and Doris went straight to the hotel receptionist to reserve two seats for next day.
The tour goes along the coast passing the airport, which is built like a giant aircraft carrier into the hillside. Must be a challenging approach for the pilots here especially with the wind
situation the most often have here. We experience Funchal as a lively, colourful and very clean city leaning on the Madeirian mountains. We see another big cruiser in the port of TUI «Mein
Schiff», accordinglythere are many
tourists like us walking the streets up and down. The bus dropped right next to the valley station of the funicular to Monte, we reserve this ride for next Monday.

We roam along the streets towards Parque de Santa Catarina with ist many plants and
trees to admire. The hunger and thirst brings us back to Theo’s Bazar Cafe with live guitar music and something cold against thirst. It is then when Doris discover that not far from here the
statue of Sissy the Austrian Empress is situated.

A good reason to visit the parque de Santa Catarina again to take some photos of her
statue. Back again through Avenida M.Arriaga, passing the cathedral of Funchal and the many shops along the roads where we buy some cloth to sew our costumes for the ARC party, the motto is
Creatures of the Sea» which we find quite difficult.
A must is also the visit to Mercado dos Lavardores, the local market hall of Funchal. A very colourful market where lots of local grown vegetables and fruits are presented and offered. Some of
them we have never seen before, like the fruit of the Monstera, which taste like the mixture of Banana and Ananas. It was only then when we were offered a spoon full of Maraquia flesh when we had
to thankfully refuse since the cup looked promising and we wanted to avoid Montezumas revenge.
Time flies by much to fast, already the bus is waiting to take us back to the marina Quinta do Lorde. A tomato salad wit mozzarella is rounding this amazing day

Saturday, 7.10.2017 Quinta do Lorde

Today is working day. Updating our blog. Before I want to fill our water tanks. It is
then when I discover that the past days bobbing in the seas some water was leaking through the inspection porthole of the water tank. Ok, first drying the bilge, topping up water and then writing
on the blog.

Doris is sewing on her sky light covers, the wind is playing with the yarn and mixes up
the sewing machine. So each of us has some hobbies, we get never bored here on board.

Sunday, 8.10.2017 Quinta do Lorde

Day in the Marina with different jobs on the boat

Monday, 9.10.2017 – car drive around the island

Punctual at09.30we get our Fiat Punto übernehmen, which is carrying today over the
roads of this beautiful island. First we pass Funchal on the highway, which we leave at Ribeira Brava. From there we drive north, first trough a narrow gorge, later crossing a tunnel to the north
side of Madeira. The landscape is steep, but very green, everything is covered with plants and trees. In the bistro «Ferro Velho» we enjoy a small snack which we conclude with a very delicious
chocolate cake. This bistro obviously is the meeting point of the local football fans, since it is decorate with flags, stickers and scarfs of European football clubs. We continue over the
mountain road towards Pico do Cedro, were we want to take the road ER110 crossing the mountains to the west. Unfortunately our ride ends after a few hundred meters by a sign which does not allow
to drive any further. Beside that the clouds are that deep on the mountains today that we might have seen nothing more than clouds, fog and some wet woods. We turn round to Sao Vincente, taking
the coast road to the western end of the island at Porto Moniz. Here we a have lot of nice views with the rough cost. Porto Moniz seems to be quite well know to tourism, as there are several
hotels and quite some busses transporting tourists around the island. Passing many bends the road ER101 leads along the southwest coast though forest with Eucalyptus trees, before taking us back
to sea level. Prior returning the car we do some shoping in a Continente Supermercado. Shortly after seven we leave our Punto in the garage of the hotel near our marina. It has carried us savely
around the island the whole day.

Tuesday, 10.10.2017 Funchal

Today we use the offing of the free shuttle to Funchal. The sky is still cloudy and we
have some drizzle from time to time. After a Cappuchino to wake up, we take the Teleferico to Monte. Since there are three cruise ships in the port of Funchal there is a big run for the
Teleferico today. But not too long we are seating in the cabin riding up to Monte. Leaving the mountain station at Monte we have look at the park there with all ist plants and trees like fern
trees, Bougainvillea, Strelitzciasetc. Then we go further to the starting place of the toboggan, which are very famous here.

The sledges, “Carro de Cesto” slide downhill for about a. 2km. According history a British business man has invented this kind of transportation
in the 19thcentury since did not want to
walk down the steep and strenuous alleys from Monte to Funchal every day. The “Carro de Cesto “ is controlled, pushed and sometimes pulled by two “Carreirros”. After about five minutes the hole
fun comes to an end, thankfully we say goodbye to our two “Carreirros” and we walk down to Funchal through some further steep alleys. The ride and the walk back made us hungry, we enjoyed some
tapas and a cool beer. Then we stroll again through a few roads of Funchal, prior the shuttle takes u back to Quinta do Lorde at half past five. Much too fast this day went by.

Wednesday 11.10.2017 Quinta do Lorde

Breakfast, then some jobs on board are waiting on us like washing, topping up fuel tank with jerry cans. Unfortunately, no fuel has arrived yet,
but is said to come in the afternoon as the marinero ensures me.

Thursday, 12.10.2017 Quinta do Lorde

We are busy with preparing Santjana for her next leg to Lanzarote. Also, we use the excellent
Internet connectivity in the WiFi room of the marina to update our Blog and to upload some fotos. We celebrate our last evening on Madeira with a
nice dinner with a “rock fish” in the harbour restaurant. This week on Madeira was over much too fast, but on the other hand the future destinations are tempting as well. Additionally, the
weather is said to get instable from the next weekend and we are not so eager to get another bumpy and rolly trip.

Friday, 13.10.2017 – Leg to Lanzarote

Shortly after eleven we cast off and leave this island of the everlasting spring. We enjoyed our stay very much and we are going to return some
day. This time maybe for one or the other hikes along the many Levadas. (water channels)Only little wind has been forecasted for today but next to the Ilhas Desertas there is quite some wind. Is this a forerunner of the tropical storm “Ophelia”, which should pass very
close to the Azores, but I do not trust the weather too much these days.
The wind disappears again, when the Ilhas Desertas fade away in the haze behind at the horizon. The rice hotpot à la Doris tastes only wonderful! At 19.00 my lonely hours on this passage
begin.My co-skipper retires to her bunk. Then she is on duty for three hours, then again myself for the next three and finally she again for the next four hours. It is
only black outside, no stars above, no moon, the visibility is very poor due to the haze or fog. 4000m below our keel two crabs fool about and mock a sea spider with her thin legs (… I just
imagine this….)

Otherwise Eagles, Eisbrecher, Unheilig and Co.help through this dark and lonely hours. Otherwise not much around only an endless sea, I feel
very small in this moments.
During the whole passage, we see only three ships on AIS respectively on radar the Palawan and the Morning Champion, both Cargo Ships and the Staatsrad Lehmkuhl, a traditional sail vessel, we can
only see one of the three ships with our own eyes.

Saturday, 14.10.2017 another grey day, above light grey, below dark grey, no wind, only our own diesel wind is playing his monotonous song.
Doris went back to her bunk with a Neocitran and symptoms of an upcoming flue. Get well soon!

Sunday morning 15.10.2017 find us shortly before Lanzarote, wind has much increased again,
compared to the last two days. Around eight we stay abeam of lighthouse “ Pta Pechiguera”, further into the “Estrecho de la Bocayna” the narrow between Lanzarote and Fuertaventura. Around 10
o’clock we are taking fuel at the waiting pontoon of Marina Rubicon and at 11 o’clock we made fast at our final berth. Followed by the normal arrival procedure: A glass on arrival, ships washing, shower and a few hours of sleep to recover.

Monday, 16.10.2017 – Marina Rubicon; Lanzarote

We take our time to get up and having breakfast and gong for a walk on the nearby promenade to
Playa Blanca. Very nice, very clean, very touristic, despite the advanced month of October there are still many tourists, we hear much English and some German. We reserve a car for the next day
to drive around the island on our own. Then we have to look for some bits and pieces in the local ships chandlery.

Tuesday, 17.10.2017 – Car drive across Lanzarote

Punctual at 09:30 we receive our yellow Opel Adam. We leave Playa Blanca in direction of Yaiza, a
very nice village, where we find a very pretty, small “Café Antigua Escuela” where we get a Cappuccino. Beside the restaurant there is a furrier’s workshop, a ceramic atelier and a boutique for
handmade jewellery and clothes. Nicely presented and not the all-around touristic stuff made somewhere in Fareast. After the caffeine infusion, we continue
towards the Timanfaya Nationalpark, which shows the hot side of this beautiful island to its visitors. We are not the only visitors here showing interests in the volcanic history of this island.
Near the Montana del Fuego we have a traffic jam with cars waiting to get on top. After one hour we arrive on top of the volcano and can park our car to get an impression of this environment. At
one place, it is about 250 Grad just below the surface thus being able to spark dry sticks which are thrown down into the hole. At another place, a park guard is pouring a bucket of water into a
hole leading ten meters down into 400 degrees zone. Shortly afterwards a jet of water and steams is ejected out of the hole – an artificial geyser. At the restaurant, the grill is heated up with
heat from the underground- pollo à la Volcano. The roundtrip with the car through the craters and lava fields is really a breath-taking experience. The last eruptions are only dated back to the
18 and 19. Century which is only a blink of an eye away measured in earth time dimensions. After some four hours, we leave this fascinating site and continue our drive up the north-west coast of
the island to La Santa and Caleta de Famera, obviously a well-known beach among the surfing community. The pirate’s museum at Teguise is already closed. The viewpoint “Mirador del Rio” sticks in
clouds which are drifting in from the west, giving us not a beautiful view. Leaving this grey soup towards Tahiche and San Bartolomé we return to the south end of the island. Everything is close
together here, no wonder the island measures only about 830km2

Wednesday, 18.10.2017, Marina Rubicon, Playa Blanca

Return our rental car and a walk along the beach promenade to our breakfast. Then another visit
at the chandlery store for some bits and pieces, we must prepare some parts of Santjana for the ARC, which starts in about one months’ time. The days laying in the marina are just perfect to do
these jobs.
At five we have an invitation from Ueli a few berths away. He finally “landed” here as he told us and knows the island like his own pocket. The hours went by too fast, it was great fun, to have a
chat with him and to talk “Schwizerdütsch” for a while about all the world.

Thursday, 19.10.2017 – Second car drive across Lanzarote

The weather today should be once more on the sunny side, therefore we decided to rent the car again. We stop at Yaiza for a nice “Café con
Leche”, then we are passing the local wine yards and break for some wine tasting at the Bodega “Rubicon”. As it is already lunch time we take a break and have a small apéro in the shade of the
Eucalyptus trees with some bread, cheese and ham Ibericos together with a little glass of the local white wine made from Malvoisie grapes.
At Teguise we visit the pirate’s museum which explains the conquests and looting of the island by some pirates and conquerors greed for power. Passing Tahiche we arrive at the “Jardin de Cactus”,
a very nice cactus garden where dozens of cacti grow for the visitor’s admiration. From small “mini agaves to big Saguaro cacti almost everything with pikes and stings is presented here. This
site is really worth visiting. Around four o’clock we finally arrive at the “Cuevas de los Verdes”. According our guide the Volcano Monte Corona has created this lava tunnel about 5000 years ago.
About one kilometre of the total five kilometre in this tube are open to the public. Partially very narrow and low-ceilinged we walk through this underground world. Awesome, when I think about
the fact that in the very near past red-hot lava was flowing through this big tube. We are deeply impressed about the force of mother earth and glad to enter back to the daylight in the end.
Passing Haria, Teguise and Yaiza the road leads us back to Playa Blanca, where we return our yellow Opel Adam at the car rental office.